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Was this what it had been like for his father?
Disgust wrapped around him, filling his mouth with acid.
How had he allowed this to happen?
Straightening, he forced himself to focus on the world beyond him, on the street, the cars, the facts at hand. They’d kissed, that was all. It wasn’t a big deal. And now he was going to push her from his mind. He’d paid off his father’s responsibilities, and the matter would never be spoken of again.
Chapter 3
AT FIRST, HE’D THOUGHT she was responsible. The call from a friend of his, Tommy Hardin, who happened to own a tabloid paper in the UK, had a sleazy story about Kon and a young Australian woman being in a secret relationship. There was even some speculation about a baby.
As far as he knew, that part was, at least, false. There had been no evidence of a child in that bedsit, so unless she’d given it up for adoption…
Had Phoebe sold the story to the paper? But to what end? He’d double the amount Kon had wanted her to have, simply to get her out of their lives for good. Perhaps for revenge, against Anastasios?
“Mate, I don’t want to run it, but I don’t know if I can sit on it forever. The source will just go to another paper. Can you deny it? Give me some proof it’s not true?”
Anastasios ground his teeth. “Who is the source?”
“I don’t know. Honest to God. They went to one of my photographers.”
“What kind of evidence do they have?”
Tommy let out a low whistle. “It’s true?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“I think it’s just a report at this stage. Idle gossip.”
“Then that’s all it is.”
“I’ve always liked your mum, Tasso. I don’t want her seeing this. The timing is particularly bad.”
Anastasios’ expression was grim.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“The source reckons he might be able to get your father’s alleged mistress to talk. If the money’s right. Reckons she’s in a real mess, financially speaking. I’m not telling you this because I’m going to buy her story, but someone else might…”
Anastasios swore under his breath.
In the three weeks since London, he’d used every ounce of his focus to push Phoebe from his thoughts, but that didn’t change the fact she was there, all the time, those huge, liquid eyes staring up at him, her silky hair falling over those perfect, rounded breasts with their creamy skin and pale pink nipples.
“It’s just a heads up. You can do what you want with the information.”
“But you’ll kill it?”
“For now. Just—see if you can get me a proper denial, then legal won’t let us run it.”
“The fewer people involved in this the better.”
“It might not be a bad idea to brace Maggie for the gossip. If this woman decides to talk…”
“She won’t.” Anastasios scraped back his chair, taking one last look at the Acropolis before storming from his office, his face wearing dark thunderclouds.
“How do you know?”
